The present invention relates to a sustained release preparation of prostaglandin I derivatives, which comprises a prostaglandin I derivative as an active component, which controls the release of the prostaglandin I derivative from the preparation so as to exhibit stable sustained release of the derivative.
Prostaglandin I (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cPGIxe2x80x9d for short) has a strong inhibition action of agglutination of platelets and strong vasodilator action, and is used for various diseases such as peripheral circulatory disturbance. It has been discovered that some of the compounds have anti-ulcer actions and their pharmacological effects thereof are wide.
On the other hand, studies of sustained release preparations are now intensively made for other drugs too. Especially, studies are made for the purpose of giving sustained effect to drugs of which biological half lives after administration are short; decreasing side effects of drugs which likely exhibit side effects Cmax-dependently; and improving compliance by decreasing the number of times of administration.
General means for attaining sustained release include sustained release hydrogel preparations (Int. J. Pharm., 15(1983)25-35) using water-soluble polymers as sustained releasing bases; sustained release matrix preparations using hydrophobic polymers; and sustained release granules using hydrophobic coats; and a method for sustained release suited for the particular drug is employed.
Prostaglandins including PGI are generally chemically unstable and their biological half lives are very short, so that frequent administration per day is required for usual preparations (preparations for injection, rapid-releasing oral administration and for topical application) in order to sustain the pharmacological effects. Thus, research and development of sustained release preparations of prostaglandins are now intensively made for injection and topical application for the purpose of sustaining pharmacological effects, reducing side effects, improving compliance and the like. Examples of the developed sustained release preparations include a sustained release preparation of PGI in which PGI is dispersed in an anti-thrombogenic material disclosed in Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (Kokai) No. 1-280466; sustained release injections by encapsulating PGE1 or PGI in liposomes (Prostaglandins, 33 (1987) 161-168); sustained release preparations of PGEs for eye drops for the purpose of topical application (Laid-open Patent Application (Kokai) No. 4-253910); sustained release preparations for intrauterine application (Japanese Laid-open Patent Application (Kokai) No. 55-102512, Br. J. Obstet. Gynaecol., 99 (1992) 877-880); preparations to be applied to buccal mucosa (Laid-open Patent Application (Kokai) No. 59-48409); and preparations to be applied to skin (Arzneim.-Forsch./Drug Res., 43 (1993) 450-454).
However, as for preparations of prostaglandins including PGI derivatives for oral administration, satisfactory sustainment of release is not necessarily attained because of the problems in chemical stability and stability of release of the drug in gastrointestinal tract. For example, in cases where a hydrophobic sustained releasing base such as ethyl cellulose is used, since the contents of PGI derivatives in the preparations are very small, the release of the drug from the preparation is poor because of the absorption to the base, the bioavailability is decreased because of the sustained release, influence by food is increased, and the releasing property is changed when the preparation is stored for a long time (Prostaglandins, 41 (1991) 473-486). Further, since the PGI derivatives have very strong pharmacological activities and trace amount thereof exhibits pharmacological effects and side effects, more precise control of the amount of the released drug is necessary than in the case of other drugs, for the sustained expression of the pharmacological effects and for avoiding side effects. However, the release rate of an orally administered drug fluctuates due to pH change in the gastrointestinal tract, and the distributions of the blood levels between individuals or in an individual tend to be large. Because of these problems, it is desired to provide an orally administered sustained release preparation which has a high safety, and exhibits stable release and absorption of the drug.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a sustained release preparation of prostaglandin I derivatives which has a high safety, and exhibits stable release and absorption of the drug.
The present inventors intensively studied for attaining the above-mentioned object to discover that a sustained release preparation which has high stability (pH stability, storing stability and the like) of release of the trace amount of PGI derivative, and which gives a high bioavailability (complete release of the drug), is attained by selecting hydrogel base as the release-controlling component, thereby completing the present invention.
That is, the present invention provides an orally administrable sustained release preparation of prostaglandin I derivatives comprising an effective component and a release-controlling component, wherein the effective component is a prostaglandin I derivative and the release-controlling component is a hydrogel base.
The oral sustained release preparation of PGI according to the present invention exhibits high stability of the release of PGI and high bioavailability, and is a very preferred sustained preparation for sustained release of a drug in the gastrointestinal tract as will be concretely shown in the examples below. The preparation also exhibits pH-independent release of PGI by adding a buffer agent. As will be apparent from the oral absorption test described below, it was proved that a prescribed blood level of the drug is maintained for a long time by using the oral sustained release preparation according to the present invention. This suggests a possibility of sustainment of the pharmacological effects and reduction of side effects. Thus, the preparation is expected to be used as a sustained release preparation having high safety and effectivity for therapies of various diseases.